We propose to establish a bridge for underrepresented minority students. This bridge will connect a newly chartered community college, Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana, and a public university, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis, which includes the Indiana University School of Medicine. This bridge will include four components: (1) a seamless curriculum, with formal articulation agreements at both the course and programmatic levels established by faculty in science and mathematics; (2) learning community courses, which are freshman orientation courses, taught at Ivy Tech by instructional teams including both Ivy Tech and IUPUI instructors; (3) a summer program providing a succinct introduction to basic research methods, ethics, careers, and other topics; and (4) a two-year mentor-driven, laboratory-based research experience program. The effect of this bridge will be to increase the numbers of URM students who matriculate into IUPUI from Ivy Tech and to increase the numbers of these students who go on to graduate and professional degree programs in the behavioral and biomedical sciences. Ivy Tech and IUPUI are the key institutions to underrepresented minority enrollment in biomedicine and related fields in the State of Indiana. These campuses have the largest number of African American and Hispanic students of any postsecondary institutions in the state. Moreover, the largest number of students transferring from an Indiana Community College to a 4-year institution was from Ivy Tech Indianapolis to IUPUI. IUPUI has had a long-standing commitment to increasing the numbers of URM students obtaining baccalaureate and post baccalaureate graduate degrees in the behavioral and biomedical sciences (M.S. and Ph.D.) and professional degrees (M.D., D.D.S...). This commitment is exemplified by the following active national grants and IUPUI programs: Ronald E. McNair Scholars grant, Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation grant, Diversity Scholars Research Program, an Indiana University Cancer Center Summer Program and an Indiana University NIH T35 Summer Research Program. These programs serve 80-85 URM undergraduate students; at the post baccalaureate level, we have an active NIH Bridges to the Doctorate program, a new NIH Initiative for Maximizing Graduate Student Diversity program and a long-standing NIH Short-Term Training for Minority Students pro- gram. The IUPUI School of Science includes 7 departments that share IUPUI's mission as a center for health and life sciences. At present, two thirds of all School of Science faculty are engaged in life-sciences relevant research. This program will further enhance enrollment and retention at all levels by focusing on the community college system as a source of recruitment. This project will create a "bridge" for underrepresented minority students linking Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana to IUPUI in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Curricular agreements, new, cooperatively taught courses, and research experiences will help URM students make a successful transition from Ivy Tech, through IUPUI, and into research careers. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]